The Happiest Christmas Tree

On this fine first of December,

[Also known in my world as World AIDS Day]

I decided that it would be a good idea to get the adorable little tree we cut down in the mountains last weekend all dressed up for it's big month to shine.

It was looking kind of pathetic and, especially after all Adam's hard work to get it set up on Sunday,

(Who doesn't like to watch their man carry a tree.)

(Especially from this angle...)

I figured the least I could do was give it the little snazz it deserved.

But, hold it, I'm kinda cheap when it comes to this stuff. And....kinda out of random spending money. We're hosting a Christmas party next week however, and I'm trying my best to add a little Christmas cheeriness around our place. So, I came up with a perfect solution that not only was cheap, but also justified a habit that I've been ridiculed for my whole life:

I'm an OCD gift opener. It takes me 5 minutes to open a gift because I like to preserve (and reuse?) the gift wrapping. I keep much-a-salvagable wrapping paper, roll up the ribbon into tight little hand spun spools for later use, and keep good boxes just in case. At several of my showers I got scorned for opening too slowly (STEPH GLOVER, aahhem).

BUT,

Redemption Has Come.

And it's in the form of a green 5-foot tall Fraser Fir.

[Wow, suddenly those last two lines sounded really sacrilegious, especially at Christmas...]

You see, we got many wedding gifts. And many were from a happy land called Pottery Barn. And, PB is just with it enough to wrap their gifts up with lovely cream colored fabric ribbon with which they tie cute little keys into the bows. Nice touch PB. Anyways, I saved all of this ribbon and all of the keys. Certainly I'd find something to do with them later, right? Well, surely surely, this I did. Just now.

In review I have: No ornamants. No extra spending cash. 10,000 yards of beautiful ribbon. 30 or so keys, and a BUNCH of empty boxes. Hmmmm,

This is what happened.

I used the ribbon to tie the little keys all over the tree.

Then used more of the ribbon to kind of cascade down the rest of tree.

Ok, so it might look a little bit cheesy

And maybe even the tiniest bit like someone broke in and TPd our tree.

But it also looks a little bit adorable.

And a lot free.

I mean really, why spend money on a tree skirt when you can just wrap up empty boxes and cover the bottom of the tree with those?

Maybe by next year I'll invest in some respectable tree decor. But at least,

My tree looks happy.

And that makes me happy.

And hopefully when Adam walks in after work and sees his tree covered in little baby bows, it will fill him, too, with feelings of happiness...

And let's be honest, what tree doesn't look a little bit (or a lot a bit) happier with an Anthropologie box underneath it?

So on this happy note, I leave you with one of my favorite Christmas songs ever: I'm The Happiest Christmas Tree.